South West Life

This article was written by Akita Olsen.

Did you know that there were cases of the dreaded Bubonic Plague in the south west? The plague stuck around one hundred years ago in Bunbury.

According to the old newspaper "The Southern Times", the cases of plague were noticed on 23 April 1903 when the Norwegian bargue named Lingard arrived from South Africa into the port of Bunbury.

The alarm was raised when the acting quarantine officer, Dr Flynn, went on board. The Captain had informed him that two of his men were sick. The doctor examined them and found the cases to be very suspiciously like plague. One of the men had become ill when the ship was within nine days of Bunbury, and the second man became ill about a week after that. The doctor immediately quarantined the ship. A further examination of the ship led to the discovery of a number of dead rats. Dr Flynn deferred his inspection of the dead rats at that time due to the urgent tasks necessary to arrange proper attention to the patients and for safeguarding the rest of the crew.

Unfortunately, before the alarm was raised by the doctor, the Harbour-master Captain Abrahamson (who had piloted the vessel into port) had returned to his home unaware that the ship was contaminated. A precautionary measure was taken and Captain Abrahamson and his family were detained in quarantine in their home. Sergeant Smythe, acting in accordance with instructions from the doctor, placed a Constable on guard at the Captain's house. Another officer was placed on duty at the jetty to see that there was no communication between the ship and the shore.

Several meetings of the Board of Health were held, and amongst other things, comment were made such as: "The present mode of treating the cases on board the ship, with all those people crowded there, is a very improper one, and there is always the danger of some of the other men sickening. If the plague breaks out amongst the other men and they are kept on board the ship they will probably die like dogs."

However, going by newspaper reports, it seemed that finding a quarantine station at the time was a bit of a drama, as the old quarantine ground was unsuitable, and there was great opposition to the use of the Smallpox Hospital. Dr Flynn suggested that the easiest solution to this problem would be to send the ship to Fremantle, where they had a proper quarantine station. The question was whether Fremantle people would object on the grounds that their port, which had only recently been declared clean, would then be considered to be infected again.

The Board of Health also discussed the special police patrol which had been placed at Captian Abrahamson's house. It was suggested that if the Captain would give his word not to leave his house, or to allow any of his family to do so, it would meet the quarantine requirements, and the police officer could be removed, thereby saving the Board 30 shillings per day.

After completing a seven day quarantine period and showing no signs of the disease, Captain Abrahamson and his family were able to leave their home.

The sailors on board the quarantined ship were not so lucky. After six days of arriving in Bunbury one of the ill sailors was the first victim to die on Wednesday 29 April 1903. The unnamed Norwegian man, aged 23 years was said to of been in a critical state and had succumbed in the afternoon, and then later that night the body was cremated on the north shore. The day after this first death a quarantine station was erected, also on the north shore, and patients were transfered there from the ship soon after.

So what was the cause of the outbreak? Dr Flynn stated that the Captain of the vessel informed him that the port of East London, from which the ship originally sailed, was an infected port and was infested with fleas. The Captain's theory (which appeared to be very plausible), was that the fleas infected the rats on the ship, and the disease was then contracted by the men during the voyage.

There have been comments to indicate that several people died from this plague outbreak - we hope to complete further research and bring any more details and stories to you in upcoming editions.